Last week, in his review of Twelve Recipes, a new cookbook from Chez Panisse chef Cal Peternell, Sam Sifton wrote, "Rare is the cookbook that acknowledges the simple truth that there aren’t really all that many recipes in the world." Within this essential dozen, there's one dish that we agree is worth mastering: the roast chicken.

If you don't have chef Peternell's book, this recipe from Mindy Fox's A Bird in the Oven and Then Some is another useful rubric. Like Peternell, Fox roasts her bird at a steady 450ºF.

WHAT? In its homeland of Japan, this glutinous rice (mochi gome in Japanese) is used primarily to make confections, to make a special rice dish used for celebrations (sekihan), or to make mochi, a soft, gooey rice cake that is served around the New Year. Ordinarily, the Japanese cook rice by boiling; mochi rice, however, is steamed. To make mochi rice cakes, the hot rice is pounded over and over with a wooden palletsweaty workuntil it is pulverized. The resultant sticky dough is shaped into cakes, used both for shrine offerings and to eat. Mochi, which has an extensible texture like taffy but more so, is considered auspicious, for the word also means "to have," and thus connotes prosperity for the new year. Our favorite treat is mochi ice cream balls, in which a ball of ice cream is wrapped with mochi dough so you can hold it in your hands while you eat it.

The holidays have come and gone, the streets are littered with discarded Christmas trees, and the temperatures have dropped to cruel lows in many parts of the country. With winter doldrums in full bloom, we could all use a little something to warm our hands and spirits. Hot spiced wine, also known as “mulled wine,” goes by many names: glögg in Swedish, glühwein in German, vin chaud in French, and so on, and varies slightly from country to country. Simmer whatever red wine you have leftover from holiday reveling with cloves, oranges, lemon rinds, sugar, bay leaves, and your choice of dark spirit for James Beard's own spin on the classic winter libation. Get the recipe here for a decidedly cozy start to your weekend.

Elena North-Kelly is senior editor at the James Beard Foundation. Find her on Twit... Read more >

Here's what's coming up at the James Beard House and around the country:

Monday, January 12, 7:00 P.M.Eating the African Diaspora
One of the country’s hottest of-the-moment dining experiences, the Cecil is riding into the New Year on a wave of adoration, having just been crowned Esquire magazine’s restaurant of the year for 2014. Created by chef/owner Alexander Smalls and rising culinary talent JJ Johnson, the Harlem brasserie’s exciting menu uses African inspiration to create a global table.

Tuesday, January 13, 7:00 P.M.Winter's Expression of Maine
Cooking exclusively with ingredients from Maine, where blizzards can strike from October to April, is no easy feat. But chef David Levi, who trained at the imaginatively resourceful Noma and Fäviken, has crafted a vibrant and darin... Read more >

James Beard once said, "It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing." Ed Kim, cartoonist for Beard House Magazine and other JBF publications, illustrated his rankings of said best ingredients in the October 2000 cover of the JBF Calendar & Newsletter in a comic called “Beard House Food Pyramid." (Click here for full-sized artwork.) Viewed alongside retrospectives of last year’s culinary trends and prognostications of what awaits in 2015, Kim’s vision of the food pyramid à la Beard is remarkably resonant. Hudson Valley foie gras and truffles on the daily; oysters a few times a week; morels, chanterelles and porcini when in season. Fifteen years later, it seems almost nothing has changed. Take a glimpse at a menu for any dinner or event this year at the Beard House and see for yourself.

Peek into Rose. Rabbit. Lie. and you’ll discover a revolutionary new supper club that’s redefining the Las Vegas social scene. At his recent Beard House dinner, the hotspot's chef Wesley Holton delighted guests with a taste of Sin City's opulence. During the reception hour, diners sipped Champagne and noshed on a bevy of bites like these miniature caviar tacos with hamachi and Santa Barbara uni tucked into Yukon Gold shells. Briny, luxe, and impossibly gorgeous, these canapés were anything but a gamble.

View this event's menu and details here. For upcoming Beard House dinners, check out our ... Read more >